Heather Chetwynd, How to Speak So You’re Heard

This is the latest episode of The One Problem Podcast. Today, my guest, Heather Chetwynd, talks about how to speak effectively, so you’re heard. 

Hi there. My name is Avil Beckford, and I am the host of The One Problem Podcast. You know that there are tons of problems in the world, but we're not going to tackle them at once. We're going to tackle them one at a time. Now, as is the case, most of the people who come on this podcast, I have some sort of prior relationship with them. Someone introduced me to our special guest today. Her name is Heather Chetwynd, and she is an English communication coach. Over to you, Heather. 

Heather Chetwynd

Thank you so much for inviting me. Just to clarify, I work primarily with people who were not born and raised in English Canada. But today I wanted to talk about this. This is an issue that's good for anyone, really, whether you're a native speaker or not. And that is speaking in a way or presenting in a way so that you are heard. The problem is often you're not heard or understood, or you're hard to follow. 

I wanted to give some tips on how to solve that. So really, we can talk about three areas when we talk about speaking clearly and effectively. One is the actual enunciation, the way you speak, the clarity of the sounds, and so on. Another is speaking with dynamics, with energy and expression. And another is speaking and presenting so that your audience can get what you're saying and you're using your text effectively. 

So when we talk about speaking clearly, that means enunciating. Making the sounds clear, the vowels, the consonants, and so on. Speaking loudly enough. Some people will tend to go very quiet when they're speaking. They feel a lack of confidence. So, projecting your voice so that you're heard. 

Also, this is key for so many people speaking at a slower pace than usual, because if I'm at home, I might talk to my daughter like this. She understands everything I'm saying. But when I'm online, I need to really slow down and speak clearly. And I recently saw a video of the British Parliament where a Welsh person was speaking and three times the main speaker, the head of Parliament, asked him to repeat and finally put it in writing. And this was a native speaker. 

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Heather Chetwynd

If he had slowed down, he would have been easier to understand. In general, when you have an accent, or you're speaking differently than people around you, it's important to slow down. But in general, online, that's key. When we talk about speaking effectively, speaking with dynamics. One aspect is using intonation. Your voice should go up and down. If I speak everything like this, then it gets very boring. And eventually, my audience will fall asleep. 

You want intonation, you want movement in your voice. And intonation also indicates meaning. So, for example, if I'm giving you a choice, I will say, do you want coffee or tea? 

I go up and down, so that intonation helps people understand, even if they don't hear all the words, they can often fill in the meaning of what you're saying. Stress. You want to stress keywords and key ideas. So just how I am right now, I'm stressing the key idea. I'm enunciating it clearly. I'm giving it more volume. An example of stressing, a key word is in English, we stress negatives. 

In this Episode of The One Problem, Heather Chetwynd Talks About How to Speak So You're Heard

So, for example, if I say I can help you, I don't say I can help you. Say I can help you. The key word there is help. But when I want to deny that I say I can't help you. So, I'm stressing the negative more. You want to make sure that you're using stress effectively. And finally, phrasing. I have great phrasing for how you group your words. I have a great phrase here, woman without her man is nothing. 

I can say woman without her man is nothing. Or I can say woman without her man is nothing. So completely different meanings. And the last aspect is speaking effectively is using your tech effectively and making sure the audience grasps the content. 

Heather Chetwynd, How to Speak So You're Heard

Heather Chetwynd

So technically, there are a lot of things when you're on Zoom. This is where the tech comes in, or even if you're presenting with Slideshows and so on. But now I'm going to talk about online. You want a good framing. You don't want to be too small on the screen. You want to have your face in the middle. You want decent lighting. I don't have special lighting here, but at least I know that my face is visible. So sometimes people are in the shade, and I need proper volume on the recording and so on. And the other thing is eye contact. That can be a little tricky because often the cameras up here are over there. 

If you can adjust your camera, that's great to get the best eye contact possible. Gestures. It's good to be able to see your hands, because in real life, we express, and this is part of your expression. And finally, to get your audience to understand your meaning, you want to organize your content by framing it, meaning, this is what I'm going to talk about. This is the problem. This is the solution. These are the steps. And then I can hear you better. Even if I don't hear everything you say. I know where you are in the structure. 

And when you're presenting a visual, you want to direct my eyes. In this part on the slide, on the left hand, that kind of language is important. If you use these techniques and these approaches, just pay attention to them. Your presentations and your speech, especially online, are going to be a lot clearer. So that's my little spiel for today. And back to you. 

Avil Beckford

Thank you so much, Heather. I learned quite a bit today. Things that I took for granted. Things that I've never thought of before. Thank you so much. 

Heather Chetwynd

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity, Avil.

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